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Semper Fi

This came from a Marine unit over in Iraq ...
Their wish is to send it to as many people in the country as possible...

           
Click on photo to enlarge ...

Yes.. It is like that!


SLEEP  LAST  NIGHT?
Bed a little lumpy... ?
Tossed and  turned any... ?
Wished the heat was higher... ?
Maybe the a/c wasn't on... ?
Had to go to the john......< I > ?
Needed a drink of  water... ?

Think of  them...
Count your blessings, pray for  them...
Talk to your Creator!

The proud warriors of Baker Company
want to do something to pay tribute
to their fallen comrades.
Since they are part of the only
Marine Infantry Battalion left in Iraq,
one way they can think of doing that
is by taking pictures of Baker Company
to show and say how they feel.
Semper Fi,  1stSGT Dave Jobe.
090714 

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LAID  TO  REST  AT  LAST

Remains of soldier killed in Korean War
buried 59 years later with military honors
on Friday, June 26th, 2009

                                               The war is finally over for Lincoln "Clifford" May. May was 22 when he shipped out in 1950 to fight in the Korean War. He did not live to see his 23rd birthday.
                                                      For more than five decades, May's remains were without a final place to rest. His body was left in North Korea after a bloody battle in 1950, and although his
                                                      bones were returned to the United States in 1993, they were not identified until last year. As May's former fiancée looked on, a journey that spanned continents
                                                      came to an end on Friday. May was laid to rest with military honors at West Cemetery in a service attended by his relatives and veterans who had come to pay
                                                      their final respects. The ceremony brought closure to May's story and gave his relatives a place to pay their respects to the long-dead soldier. "Thank God for
                                                      the U.S. government and the U.S. Army. They never did give up when we all did," said May's nephew, Clifford Block. "Fifty-eight years ... they never stopped
                                                      looking."  For decades, the military could only presume May had been killed in a conflict near a province called Unsan in North Korea.

                                                      On Nov. 2, 1950, tanks roared while rockets shot over the land. Enemy MiGs and older P-51 Mustangs fought it out in the skies nearby as the battle raged on
                                                      the ground. A mass of Chinese forces was over-whelming a joint mission by the United Nations that included American forces. An order to retreat was given,
                                                      but the Americans forces, of which May was part, were cut off. May was left with his brothers in arms to fight the battle with little support. Reports at the time
                                                      stated some of the fighting turned to hand-to-hand combat after ammunition ran out. Block said there was an unconfirmed report that his uncle was killed by a
                                                      mortar round, but it's unclear how or exactly when May died. In November 1950 he was declared missing in action, and by 1953 he was presumed dead. He
                                                      was promoted posthumously to Sgt. 1st Class after he was declared K.I.A.

                                                      Decades later, when the war was long over, boxes of intermingled body parts presumed to be the remains of U.S. soldiers were turned over to the United States.
                                                      In 2008, at a government facility in Hawaii, workers marched a DNA sample provided by May's relatives. About 60 people gathered to pay their last respects to
                                                      the fallen soldier during a ceremony at the O'Brien Funeral Home in Bristol. A boyhood picture of May sat on a low table within sight of his coffin. On each side of
                                                      the photo sat pictures of the soldier taken in 1948 when he had returned from boot camp. His khaki uniform neatly pressed and his cap tilted to the side. May was
                                                      only 20 when the photos were taken.

                                                      Former fiancée attends service for man killed in Korean War
                                                      One of the visitor who attended the services on Friday had a special connection to the fallen soldier. Betty Moore, now battling cancer, was only a teenager when
                                                      she met May, then a clean-cut youngster who pulled up near her home in a blue pick-up truck along with his "good buddies." It was love at first sight, she said. May,
                                                      who was hoping to become a career military man, proposed to Moore when she was 18 and the couple was due to be married in 1950. War changed their plans.
                                                      Although he was set to be discharged, May was held over by the military to fight in the war, Moore said. He shipped out in 1950 and the two never had the chance
                                                      to tie the knot. "His time was up, then they froze him and sent him to Korea." she said. "I said, I guess we will have to cancel our wedding plans." The tragic news
                                                      came to May's mother Clara that her son had been captured. But Moore held out hope until the news came of his death. After the years went by, Moore eventually
                                                      moved south to Mississippi, married and became a mother. But May was always in her thoughts. "He'll always be with me," Moore said. "I am glad he's home." 
                                                      After the news came that May's bones had been identified, his family went looking for pictures of him. Tucked in the back of one picture frame, Block found a love
                                                      letter Moore had written when she and May were teenagers. On Friday, they gave her the letter, but its contents will only be shared with Moore and the man who is
                                                      no longer here to receive it. "He gave me the letter today," Moore said of Block.  "I am going to read it." May would have been in his early 80s had he been alive
                                                      today. Moore is now battling cancer, but keeps a question rolling around in her head: Why did it have to be her love who didn't survive the war?

                                                      A group of 20 motorcyclists called the Patriot Guard escorted May's casket from Bristol to Plainville. The National group accompanies funeral processions for fallen
                                                      soldiers. May's service is the fourth it had done this week. May was given a military funeral. A rifle detail fired three volleys that cracked the air. As gray skies opened
                                                      and rain started to pour, the sound of taps soared from a distant horn. An American flag draped over May's wooden casket was slowly folded by the pallbearers.
                                                      Having May returned home completes a circle. Block said, as his brothers, sisters and mother have all passed away. He'll be buried within feet of them, May's
                                                      nephew said. With tears in her eyes and a gentle dip of her head, Moore accepted the folded triangle of red, white and blue, holding the cloth to her chest. 
                                                      CLIFFORD  MAY  was finally home.       BY JONATHAN  SHUGARTS, Republican-American                                         

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HISTORICAL    KOREAN    WAR    PICTURES
submitted by   BETTY  COMEAU

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